24 July 2013

HRH Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge

The British Royal Court (Clarence House) announced today that the son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who was born at the St. Mary's Hospital at Paddington, London on 22 July 2013, has been named George Alexander Louis. The statement in full:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son George Alexander Louis.

The baby will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

The prince is of course titled Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but is styled Prince George of Cambridge. The call name George was also what I suggested in my blog article of 3 July 2013, but so did many others as well. I missed out on Alexander and Louis, though, and Prince George "only" got three names and not four, as most people "in the know" expected. The number of names is something the little prince shares with his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, whose full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.

I have too little time right now to comment too much on the names, but just want to say how happy I am that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen such traditional royal names, and that the announcement came so soon and before I have to take a break from my blogging due to my vacation!

2 comments:

What's interesting about the choice of the name George is that it is not only traditional, it is so traditional it was nearing extinction in the English speaking world. I think I could count on one hand all of the Georges I have known or known of born in the last half century to English speaking parents, and it would not take the whole hand. I predict that there will now be a dramatic resurgence of this venerable name!

This blog is written by Dag T. Hoelseth, a Norwegian historian specialising in royal history.
I have a Cand.philol. degree in history from the University of Oslo and graduated in 1997 with the dissertation Det nasjonale kongedømme. Det norske monarkiet 1905-1910, which dealt with the royal election in Norway 1905 and how the new dynasty "became Norwegian".
I am the author of Historisk utredning om Kongehuset, dets apanasjer og disponible statseiendommer, which was published on behalf of the Palace Committee in 2001. The report focused among others on the history of the Norwegian civil list from 1905 to the 1970s as well as the properties the king of Norway has to his disposal.
I have made contributions to several antologies and also written articles for various publications. More often I have operated "behind the scene", consulting newspapers etc. with background information.
Among my other interests are genealogy, Norwegian-American emigration history, US presidential history, traveling, football and ice hockey.